Loaches Online Forum

Saw this a while ago on MonsterFishKeepers, but never thought to make a thread on it here until now.

Milingu has a pictus catfish bought in 2000 and still alive today. That makes it at least 22 years old (possibly quite a bit older depending on the size of purchase), which is not that far off from redshark1's clown loaches. In fact, it could be as old as or older than them if it was purchased at a larger size!

We have a P. pictus that was bought in 2000.
It has permanently lost a part of its whiskers, has a crooked spine and hides the whole day but still falls into feeding frenzy once or twice a week.
Seeing this fish over the years make me think that they will not grow much older than 12 or maybe 15 years in the wild before they either starve or get eaten.

https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/foru ... pan.744287

I will update this thread at the same time as my yearly asking Milingu whether it's still alive.

Unfortunately, it has been reported (about 1 month ago) that this fish developed a tumor and had to be put down. It is safe to say he was at least 24 years old at the time of death.

We had to put him down last week. He had a tumor growing out of his mouth and could not eat anymore. So we decided to end his suffering.
Given the size of approx 3 inch when I bought him I think I can safely say he was at least 24 years old.

https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/foru ... 287/page-3

I'm wondering if 3 decades might be achievable for some individuals of this species of fish with temperatures in the lower 20sC mine appear to be thriving at? If memory serves this fish was kept with a Raphael catfish which presumably would have needed a higher temperature than that, and therefore probably did not live as long as it would have had temperatures been colder.